Sanders proposes huge library, parks cuts

The two-year plan by Mayor Jerry Sanders to fix San Diego’s troubled finances before he leaves office begins with cuts that will leave libraries and recreation centers closed on most days, fund fewer positions for sworn police officers and remove fire pits from city beaches.

The mayor’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 calls for deep cuts to parks and libraries and a number of one-time financial fixes to tame a $56.7 million deficit in the city’s $1.1 billion operating budget. It also includes the restoration of idled fire engines and leaves a lingering long-term deficit that will need to be closed next year.

Likely the most jarring decision for city residents will be Sanders’ plan to slash library and recreation center hours in half, a move that will shutter those facilities on most days and eliminate swimming and after-school programs at some locations.

Major budget proposals

Environmental Services: Eliminate trash collection for 14,200 residences on private streets as well as 4,500 businesses. Total cuts: $2 million

Fire: Restoration of idled fire engines, cuts to supplies and contracts, no staffing changes. Total increase: $8 million

Libraries: Library hours cut from 36 to 18 hours per week beginning July 1, branches open two days per week and alternately Saturdays, loss of 77 positions. Total cut: $7.4 million

Police: Loss of 27.5 full-time positions, including 20 unfilled jobs for sworn officers, reduction in uniform allowance for officers, cuts to contracts and supplies. Total cut: $5.5 million

Sanders, who plans to release the budget at a news conference Thursday, called the cuts to parks and libraries “pretty dramatic” but necessary given the city’s financial woes.

“It’s a tough budget,” he said in an interview. “I never said it was going to be an easy decision.”

The city is projecting a revenue increase of $9.6 million for the coming year yet must continue slashing its bottom line because San Diego leaders have chosen to balance previous budgets with one-time fixes that have allowed what policy wonks refer to as a “structural deficit” to be kicked down the road. That practice has helped prevent deeper cuts in the past but leaves the broader financial problem unresolved.

Sanders acknowledged his proposed budget continues that tactic by using $35.1 million in one-time fixes, such as not adding to city reserves and tapping unused money in various city funds, to close the current gap. That will leave a structural deficit projected at $40 million for the following fiscal year — a sum he hopes will shrink as revenue grows and pension costs fall.

“We’re probably just about ready to see the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of revenue coming back and in terms of all the cuts that we’ve made,” he said. “We have committed to and I will commit to a balanced budget next year so we’re out of the structural issues we’re in.”

The City Council, which has final budget approval, will consider the plan at public hearings over the next few weeks and several members have already indicated they are troubled with what they consider harsh cuts to parks and libraries.

Councilman David Alvarez, who represents several poorer neighborhoods in southern San Diego, said he has constituents who rely heavily on libraries for Internet access and recreation centers for sports. His first reaction was “wow” when told of the cuts.

“It very much is painful to learn that he’s proposing to cut parks and proposing to cut libraries, two very vital services to the residents of communities like mine that really utilize their libraries and parks,” Alvarez said.

The proposed budget calls for the elimination of a combined 154 positions — some vacant, some not — in the parks and library departments. Recreation centers would be reduced from 40 to 20 hours per week along with the elimination of several programs. Branch libraries would see hours cut from 36 to 18 hours per week, leaving them open two days a week and every other Saturday.

Valorie Matthews, 65, a retired debt collector who lives four blocks from the Allied Gardens/Benjamin branch library, criticized Sanders for focusing on large civic projects, such as a new Chargers stadium, rather than finding ways to fund critical services like libraries.

“What do you expect from a man who puts football stadiums ahead of the children of San Diego?” she said. “Part-time libraries are for part-time intellects of which we have so many at City Hall. ... All I have ever hear is San Diego wants to be a world-class city. World-class city with libraries open two days a week? That’s disgusting.”

The city’s budget has been squeezed over the past decade after previous city leaders chose to grant enhanced retirement benefits for workers while also underfunding the pension system. Those moves, coupled with a subsequent economic recession, have led to a $2.1 billion pension deficit that requires increasing annual payments that eat up a greater portion of the city’s budget each year.

The current pension payment saps roughly $178 million — a total that peaks at $360 million in 2025 if actuarial projections hold — from the $1.1 billion operating budget, the discretionary portion of the city’s overall $2.75 billion budget. The recent increases in that payment have left less and less money for other services such as public safety, parks and libraries.

The financial squeeze led city leaders to enact a “brownout” policy last year that called for the idling of up to eight fire engines per day to save money on firefighter overtime to help close a $179 million gap. Sanders has also chopped more than 1,400 positions from the budget — a total that will grow to 1,671 if his current plan is adopted — since he took office in 2005.

The brownouts would be gradually phased out by Jan. 1 under the mayor’s plan, but public safety would still endure cuts as Sanders has proposed eliminating 20 vacant positions for sworn police officers, among other reductions in the police department.

Brian Marvel, president of the Police Officers Association, questioned further cuts to a department that has been cut so much already. The department once had 2,124 sworn police officer positions in the budget and currently has 1,991 — of which only 1,843 are filled with real-life officers, he said.

“You’re going to reach a point where officers are going to be severely jeopardized with their safety,” Marvel said. “You get to a point where there’s no more fat, there’s no more muscle and it’s all bone that they’re cutting. Unfortunately, I think in the police department they are at the bone.”

The proposed budget only addresses one of the city’s three pressing financial problems, the others being a backlog in deferred maintenance projects and a $1.4 billion long-term debt to pay for retired workers’ health care costs. Sanders said he plans to borrow $100 million annually to address deferred maintenance and expects a deal soon with labor unions over retiree health.